One of the 28th | Page 2

accustomed were they to
settle everything that took place at Penfold Hall, that this sudden
assumption of authority on the part of their brother fairly staggered

them. Miss Penfold was the first to speak:
"This is terrible, Eleanor! To think that after all these years Herbert's
thoughts should still be turning toward that woman. But it is only what
might be expected. The ingratitude of men is terrible. Here we have for
the last twenty years been devoting our lives to him--not only keeping
his house for him, but seeing that he did not fall a victim to any of the
designing women who would have insinuated themselves into his good
graces, and preventing him from indulging in all sorts of foolish tastes
and bringing himself to ruin; and now you see he turns again to that
artful woman, and, without saying a word to us, invites her son to come
here. It is monstrous, sister!"
"It is monstrous," Miss Eleanor Penfold repeated, with tears in her eyes.
"It is like flying in the face of Providence, sister."
"It is flying in our faces," Miss Penfold replied sharply; "and just at the
present moment that is of more importance. To think that that man
must have been brooding over this, and making up his mind to act in
this way for weeks perhaps, and never to say a word to us upon the
subject. I wonder he didn't ask the woman herself down!"
"He never could have done such a shameless thing, Charlotte," her
sister said much shocked. "Of course, we must have left the house
instantly."
"I should not have left the house," Miss Penfold said firmly. "If the
woman comes--and now he has asked the boy it is quite possible that
he may ask the mother--our duty will be to remain here. You know we
have been uneasy ever since her husband died. Herbert's infatuation
concerning her has been pitiable, and we have always believed it has
been that alone which has caused him to refuse so obstinately to enter
into our plans, or to pay even decent courtesy to the various excellent
young women we have from time to time asked down here, and who
were in every way suitable for the position of mistress of this
house--women full of sense, and who, with right guidance, would have
made him perfectly happy. And now he flies in our faces and asks the
boy down. I have had an idea for some little time that he has had

something on his mind; he has been more nervous and fidgety than
usual, and several times he has seemed to be on the point of saying
something, and then changed his mind. Of course, one can understand
it all now. No wonder he was ashamed to look us in the face when he
was meditating such a step as this. The duplicity of man is something
shocking!"
It was not surprising that Herbert Penfold's sudden assertion of his will
was a shock to his sisters. These ladies had so long been accustomed to
rule absolutely at Penfold Hall that Mr. Penfold's assertion of his right
to act as he pleased in his own house came upon them like an act of
absolute rebellion. At their father's death they were women of
twenty-seven and twenty-six years old respectively. Herbert was a lad
of sixteen. He was of a gentle and yielding disposition; and as their
father for some years previous to his death had been a confirmed
invalid, and they had had the complete management of the house, it
was but natural that at his death they should continue in the same
position.
Owing to weak health, Herbert had not been sent to school, but had
been educated under the care of a tutor. He had wished when he
reached the age of nineteen to enter one of the universities; but his
sisters had been so opposed to the idea, and had represented so strongly
to him his unfitness to take part in the rough sports of the young men,
and how completely he would feel out of place in such companionship,
that he had abandoned the idea, and had traveled on the Continent for
three years with his tutor, his sisters being for most of the time of the
party. Soon after his return he had fallen in love with the daughter of
Colonel Vernon, an officer living on half-pay at Poole, which was the
nearest town to Penfold Hall. The announcement of his engagement
came like a thunder-clap upon his sisters, who had agreed that it would
be in all respects desirable that Herbert should not marry for some
years.
They had, however, been wise enough not to offer any open opposition
to the match. Three months later the engagement was